The WSJ has an article about blocking pornography sites on mobile phones, pointing out that the leading companies in the industry are different from the online world…RuleSpace and Blue Coat Systems are mentioned as mobile content filterers. Of course, at some point the big guys are likely to move into mobile, so these smaller companies need to be very well established before that happens.
“Many technology companies have begun developing real-time monitoring and filtering applications to block adult content from being viewed by underage cellphone users. Experts in blocking software say identifying porn on cellphones is much more difficult than on computers because wireless Web sites usually have very little text and the images are much smaller.” However, the only alternatives are unrestricted access to the internet or sticking with carrier-approved websites.
RuleSpace claims its blocks are 90 to 99% effective, but has an interesting idea for those times when it may get it wrong. “When children try to access filtered sites, including some social-networking sites, the RuleSpace system can generate a message to the user saying, “You’re trying to access a site that your parent has said is inappropriate to you. You have the option to go somewhere else or request to go there.” If the child decides to go to the deemed inappropriate site, the parent will receive a message, asking if access should be allowed.”
As usual, no mention is made in the story of restricting access to other adult content, such as gambling, hate sites, do-it-yourself bomb recipes and so on. It doesn’t necessarily mean these sites aren’t blocked, just that they’re not titillating enough to mention.
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